Victory of
AAP Government is more significant than the simple fact of people electing AAP for
their good work in Education and Healthcare. I was in Delhi last week. Every
Uber / OLA driver and Riksha-wala had this message – “Kaam achha kiya hai, vote
unhi ko denge”.
It is a
strong signal to the entire political class, not to take people of India for
granted. I recall an article by eminent scholar Prof. Bhabani Sengupta long
time back wherein he proved that that the people of India have rewarded good
Governments and punished bad Governments. This may not be the popular view but
Prof Sengupta gave direct evidence from national and State elections over a
period of time.
Let’s see
some examples. Mr. VP Singh won national election on the simple message of being
Mr. Clean. Bofors was on people’s mind. And, later, Janata Dal was out for the
mess that was created due to Mandal Commission for which the then Prime
Minister had to take the blame. Mandate in 2009 was for Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh for his clean image and the Nuclear deal he negotiated. But in 2014, Mr. Modi
was helped by people’s view that an honest PM like Mr. Manmohan Singh was not able
to control scandals. One can trace the history all the way back to 1971 and even
1967 when several non-Congress State Governments came to power.
And, it is
not just election votes. People of India are even understanding of good steps that
may be painful. Demonetization is a good example. In spite of extreme inconvenience
of not having cash, people gave the prime minister benefit of doubt as it was a
bold step to reduce black economy. Same goes for Government revoking special
status granted to the State of Jammu & Kashmir under Article 370. People
are concerned but are patient. And, restraint and composure shown by the people
of all communities with Supreme court Ayodhya verdict speaks volume about their
maturity.
AAP victory
proves that core value propositions like health and education will be rewarded.
My son who lives in Delhi told me that Government owned schools in Delhi are as
good as the private school he went to in Pune. Imagine the impact it has on
children of poor and lower middle class. They get quality education at an
affordable price. Many of us who went to IITs (including victorious CM of Delhi
who is from IIT Kharagpur) and many other good Government colleges got educated
literally free and benefit from that education every day. This can be extended
to all Government owned schools in other cities and towns. Why only Central
Schools or Delhi Govt schools, all municipal schools in the country can be as
good.
It can also
serve as a model to be adopted for Urban India. Urbanization is a reality. And
if urban India is vibrant and benefits from good Governance, everyone rural or
urban will benefit. Second tier cities like Pune, Surat, Indore, Vadodara,
Ludhiana, Kanpur, Coimbatore, Kochi etc. have suffered long and will benefit
immensely if the local city administration is efficient and is empowered. If
these cities and even tier III towns like Nasik, Hubli-Dharwad, Meerut etc. get
into the act, not just $5trillion but even higher targets would be achievable. Let’s
set GDP growth target for top 50 towns in the country besides metropolitan
cities.
My last point
is a compliment to Mr. Arvind Kejriwal. Here is a politician who did a complete
turn around from an activist Chief Minister to focus on Governance, go off
media and produce results for the people and AAP. Other politicians, please THINK.
